Gilad Sharon: The PA National Story Born in the Wake of Zionism

"You can take the wild Palestinian beast and put a mask on it, in the form of a fluent English-speaking spokesman..."

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Gilad Sharon, 14/03/11 14:46 | updated: 14:32

Gilad Sharon

Israel news photo: Flash 90

The author, writing in the daily Yediot Acharonot following the brutal slaughter of five family members in Itamar, is the son of comatose former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Let us not forget with whom we are dealing here. You can take the wild Palestinian beast and put a mask on it, in the form of some fluent English-speaking spokesman. You can also dress it in a three-piece suit and silk tie.

But every once in a while – during a new moon, or when a crow’s droppings hit a howling jackal, or when its pita with hyssop doesn’t come out just right – the wild beast senses that this is its night, and out of primeval instincts, it sets off to stalk its prey.

They’ll explain to us, and we’ll also explain to ourselves, how nice and beautiful peace is. We will argue excitedly and with deep inner conviction about whether there should be an immediate peace agreement, or perhaps a series of interim agreements. We will discuss these and other such questions, all based on the assumption that on the other side they also think like us and also want quiet and tranquility.

But such an assumption is a rape of reality. A society that can thus sanctify death, the best of whose youth are baby-stabbers, is simply not like ours. Even their leaders… condemn these acts only by claiming that they “harm the Palestinian cause.” There’s no moral issue here; it’s just a question of harm to the cause. Their three-piece suit is sullied with blood stains, and the mask falls off… and the image of the beast they tried to hide is once again revealed.

They look at us. We are everything they never were and never will be. We have a history and culture thousands of years old, we have a functioning, developing society – while they are just the offshoot of our Zionism. Their entire national story was born in the wake of Zionism. Even their self-definition as a people has no existence without us.

They look at themselves through our image. The more we succeed and progress, the more their hatred intensifies. We are the proof that it is possible to do it differently, that failures are not the result of destiny, but primarily of decisions and actions.

In any arrangement that might or might not come about, remember with whom we are dealing. Our security must always remain in our hands.